'I'd Never Dreamed of A Trench So Bright...'

A Front Row Date with Burberry

by Emily Fermor

1 minute and 42 seconds to go until the launch of the Burberry Prorsum Womenswear S/S13 Show; styled in my Magdalen trackies and grey Tommy crew-neck, I’m poised and ready before my Mac. I have a front row ticket, and I’m excited. I count down the seconds and wait for Christopher Bailey to wow me.

Well, I’m not quite knee-grazing Harry Styles on the front row in Hyde Park, and no, I can’t smell the leather or reach out and touch Bailey’s dégradé duchess satin Blaze bags, yet Burberry’s live streaming is so faultless that I almost feel like I could. Laura Craik coos: “this season will be remembered less for skirt lengths than for being the season when fashion went digital”. And however bad the rest of The Times’ coverage of ‘#LFW’ is, she could be right there. Skirt shape is more of a hot topic than length, for a start – the slim pencil makes a reappearance - and (unlike Craik) we are well aware that fashion has been digital for years now. But 2012 has indeed been a stellar year for Britain: glass ceilings have been smashed and bars have been elevated and in the space of just one summer, it is London that has gone digital. It feels as though anything and everything can happen in the capital.

And what’s more, Burberry has been swept up in the wave of London2012’s can-do spirit; how can we not fall in love with it?

For Christopher Bailey, Fei Fei Sun and Jourdan Dunn sport gorgeous rouge on their lips, and a catwalk isn’t a catwalk unless Cara Delevingne has graced it. The glass ceiling of this venue isn’t smashed just yet, and though it’s not hot outside, it’s gloriously bright. If you loved Chanel’s Peridot nail vernis last winter, Burberry’s petrol blue metallic trench and metallic green corset dress shine so brightly that they almost reflect the taut “ooh”s and “aah”s from the blemish free faces lining the aisles.

Sorry Mulberry, I shan’t be coveting your floral prints this season. Those delicate florals may have been draped on the likes of Lana del Rey but they overshadowed those beautiful brown, leather (perhaps military-inspired?) coats. Granted, you’ve given us a cooler take on Cath Kidston but frankly, there’s only so cool Kidston can get. So maybe just leave the flowers to Prada next season? All in all, I suspect you’ve lost a little youth support with your S/S13 offering – where are the metallic leathers and the clean sorbet shades? Beloved Burberry, on the other hand, has ticked all the boxes – sharp, bright, clean, white. Ah yes, Bailey’s white ‘Double Duchess Bell Cape’, a mere £1,395 and available to buy as soon as the show ended, is all of the above, but most importantly youthful - there’s just something oh-so-reckless about a coat without arms. It couldn’t be more perfect.

Mulberry was talked about and naturally nobody had a bad word to say about it (well, apart from yours truly…), but Burberry has been talked about. All week, my Twitter feed has been screaming out praise for Bailey. Supermodel Polly Bean marked the event with another of her cartoons: “I <3 you Christopher Bailey – You’ve taken Burberry, To an exciting new height, I’d never dreamed, Of a Trench so bright!”. And while my heart fluttered at Alberta Farretti’s beautiful collection (nudes before a dark and seductive ‘under the sea’ backdrop) Burberry’s finale was magnificent. A celebration of light, colour and London.

So for now, my daydreams shall be filled with bright satin heels, corsets and capes to ward off April-shower blues. Burberry achieved a delicious display of colour and technology in Hyde Park this September, unrivalled elsewhere in London Fashion Week. Through its innovation with technology Burberry is making steps to democratise fashion, and what better way to be a part of that than by draping that spectacular Double Duchess Bell Cape over my ordinary shoulders? I hope you’ve got your overdrafts and petrol green purses at the ready girls...